


#3 Nocturnal animal

by HanHan_Solo156



Series: Hanhan’s Rammstein short stories [3]
Category: Rammstein
Genre: A weird Halloween story, Disturbing things happen, M/M, October challenge, Relationship Problems, Short Story, Sleepwalking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-11-23 12:30:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20892152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HanHan_Solo156/pseuds/HanHan_Solo156
Summary: Paul - suffering from sleepwalking - has been able to control his nightly habit so far, but when they moved together with his boyfriend, things started to get out of hand. Richard tries to help his partner as best as he can, but it keeps getting more disturbing night by night.





	#3 Nocturnal animal

**Author's Note:**

> I saw a very interesting documentary about noctambulism, so I used it as a reference for this prompt.

_The prompt: The character is distressed from several nights of nightmares/sleep paralysis, all of which leave them waking up terrified. Eventually, what they see in their dreams start to blend into reality._

* * *

It had started innocently when they had moved together almost a year ago. Richard was aware of it, but still, he was surprised when he had actually seen it for the first time: his partner raising from their bed, mumbling gibberish in an imaginative language, not understanding anything that was going on. Richard had dragged Paul back next to him, whispering soothing words to his ear. Paul never remembered anything in the morning. The only things reminding him of his nightly habits were that he was either exhausted to death or he had a horrible headache - in the worst cases, both.

They had joked about it together when they had imagined what Paul could achieve in his dream state: making artistic masterpieces, recording albums or something else as crazy which wouldn’t be possible when he was conscious. Richard had found the rare trait of his partner cute at first.

But as time went on, Paul’s somnambulism seemed to get worse. He started wandering around the house instead of just taking a few steps in their bedroom. Occasionally, he visited their kitchen, opening the fridge and the cupboards, seeking a nightly snack. A couple of times by chance, Richard had woken up and wondered did he forgot the light on in the kitchen - but no, there was Paul sitting on their table and munching pretzels which they were supposed to have as breakfast. Paul had tried to ease the confusion about the incident later by asking Richard would he still love him if he got fat because of the nocturnal snacking.

Every passing night, Richard got more and more worried and he didn’t know what to expect for the upcoming night. It affected his sleep - or actually, his whole life - as well. And what was the worst, it didn’t affect only their everyday duties, it had a negative effect on their relationship as well. To be completely honest, Richard didn’t even remember when was the last time they’d had a proper sexual intercourse. Now it seemed like every single night they were so drained that they went to sleep straight after having a late dinner.

After one particular night though, Richard’s worst fears came true and something irreversible happened. It was not only that their sexual life was perishing - that night, Paul proved that he was actually a fatal risk both to himself and to people around him.

It hadn’t started very promisingly. Once again, Paul had worked his ass off and had come back home late. The former night Richard had been dragging him back to bed from outside when he had walked to their front yard only in his pajamas, locking the door behind him. Luckily, the neighbor had been walking his dog and had rung the doorbell. Paul was already scared would the upcoming night be ruined as well. A lot of stress was on his shoulders and it didn’t help that his partner seemed to get grumpier day by day.

“Honey, is there something bothering you?” Paul asked when they had been sitting in awkward silence for way too long - he couldn’t stand it. Even though he hated his condition, he didn’t want to upset his partner.

“No,” Richard answered, pretending to be busy chewing his dinner.

“Don’t lie to me,” Paul said, his tone getting a bit accusing.

Richard put the fork and knife aside and looked at his partner. “You call me…a liar?”

“We haven’t been properly talking for days, you seem to be so grumpy all the time.” _And we are not having any kind of sex life_, he almost added. “Are you even interested in me anymore?”

Richard sighed. “Paulchen, please, don’t start this again. Of course, I still love you, just this condition of yours…it’s quite distressing for me as well.”

Paul stood up and pointed at his partner. “So you think I’m doing my nightly activities on purpose, just to annoy you, huh?”

“Don’t put words in my mouth which I haven’t even said. You’re overreacting once again. You need a proper rest. In fact, we both need.”

Paul banged his fist to the table and screamed: “Oh, I’m terribly sorry I’m not the perfect man you assumed me to be! You just don’t fucking understand what I’m going through!” Then, he left the kitchen, leaving Richard alone - the only thing he could do was to blink his glossy eyes in confusion.

That night Richard decided to sleep in the guest room - he knew very well how naive it was, but he had the right to be pissed in this situation. Paul had hurt him and every day it seemed to get worse.

_You just don’t fucking understand. _The cruel words echoed in his mind making him sob once again. He wanted desperately to understand and to support, but his partner didn’t even let him come close so how could he? He didn’t know what to do and he was too ashamed to ask for anybody’s help.

When he had been asleep for a while, Richard suddenly heard a loud siren. It was at first mixed with his bizarre dream until he realized it actually came from their house. Waking up in the middle of the night wasn’t anything new, but this time he had an intuition that something was seriously out of place.

He stood up and rubbing his eyes at the same time, made his way towards the source of the horrible cacophony.

“Gott im Himmel, what the fuck is going on…” Richard mumbled while holding his nose in a cloud of heavy smoke. It was so harsh that it was difficult to see anything.

When he reached the kitchen he witnessed the cause: a frying pan, almost in flames, with something scorched - distantly resembling a piece of bacon - on it. It seemed like Paul’s nightly snacks had gone to the next level.

_Holy shit._

As swiftly as he could, Richard put a fire blanket on the frying pan and turned off the stove. He opened the kitchen hood and all the windows he could.

But even their house getting almost burnt down, he was more concerned about another - way more important - thing: where on earth was Paul? Richard blamed himself for all of this mess. Would this have been avoided if he wouldn’t have acted so foolishly earlier?

He wandered around their apartment, calling his partner, without any answer - the whole house was eerily silent. Seemed like his boyfriend had vanished into thin air.

Drowsy and confused, Richard sat on the sofa, wondering what he should do now. He didn’t pay attention to the vague sounds in the background at first - he thought they were coming from the neighbor. Then, he suddenly remembered how Paul had walked outside just last night.

Richard had barely opened the front door when he saw something he could have never imagined to witness.

_Fuck, it can't be..._

“PAUL, GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE!” he shouted as loud as he could, running towards his partner at the same time, but it was useless. It was impossible to wake him up now.

Richard tried to act but he was only a couple of seconds too late. Just when he grabbed the car’s door handle, Paul reversed so rapidly that he almost hit the neighbor’s garage and then, with tires screeching, their Volkswagen disappeared in the dark night.


End file.
